Art: DEFYING TIME AND FASHION

TO Painter Edwin Dickinson, 69, the reward that counts most for the
artist is that other artists understand and respect him. A spry,
sparrowlike man in a sea captain's beard, he has steadfastly kept his
name out of the press, has rarely allowed his paintings to be
reproduced. On these terms Dickinson has won admiration among
traditionalists and avant gardists alike for paintings that defy fashion, time or
classification. Last week Manhattan's Graham Gallery opened a major
retrospective that should help in making Dickinson's name as familiar
to the public as it has long been within the profession.